Modern telecommunications systems typically utilize digitally encoded data instead of analog data. If analog data is used, it may be converted to digital data for the purposes of switching the data between conducting media. Switching of data occurs at large telecommunications switches, which may receive and process hundreds or thousands of data channels.
One method of carrying a large number of data channels comprises encoding the data into an optical signal. A single optical fiber has a greater usable bandwidth, occupies less physical space, and may have a lower cost than most electrical conductors. Nevertheless, the data encoded into the optical signal carried by an optical fiber must be converted into data encoded into an electrical signal before the data can be processed for use in telecommunications applications.
Because optical fiber signals and other signals may be transmitted from many different locations with varying data formats, such signals must be switched and transmitted by equipment that is configured to handle data in the appropriate format. This requirement inhibits the flexibility for data switching and transmission for all signals, and optical signals in particular.